Prompt: Kisses
by Ngoc Chau
Summary: He had grown colder, colder than before he lost his memory; it was as though he was not only trying to become the same man he was before, but making sure that no one would ever mention the him that he was while he was recovering. Mayuri x Nemu part 5/5


**Ngoc Chau does not own Bleach**

**So I had planned this out before, but then I forgot and it got all screwed up. I'm not sure if it's any better or worse. But I seriously doubt that anyone really cares anymore... wahh!**

**Anyway, please read and review. **

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**Prompt: Kisses**

Truthfully, she did not really notice his attraction to her. She had mistaken it perhaps for a malady in the brain that he had designed, but then remembered that her father could never make a mistake. Though, she had never noticed it, thinking it perhaps that he had a different view now of everything. But after that kiss and the afternoon and evening that followed, she had almost fooled herself that he would love her, as daughter, then woman…

But she was wrong, terribly wrong as he usually said she was. The following day, he had regained his memories swifter than before; where he had remembered weeks at a time, he was beginning to remember months and years. And so he had changed.  
Reader, to anyone, he had already been cured the moment he stepped out of his cell with those yellow eyes glaring coldly at everyone and sending fear into them. But to Nemu, he had grown colder, colder than before he lost his memory; it was as though he was not only trying to become the same man he was before, but making sure that no one would ever mention the him that he was while he was recovering.  
Whenever he yelled at her or ignored her, or even struck her until she blacked out, she would think back to those times he had kept her close to him, had touched her, and most of all, she would remember that kiss that seemed too perfect. He would've beat her for uttering that word: perfect. But it was perfect to her, it could not have been any more improved for her, it could not have been any better, and it could not have changed.

But now she feared him more than ever because he was no longer the same Kurotsuchi Mayuri, he was a changed man who went a little bit farther than he did before without warning and she was afraid that he was losing himself. He was not a man to stay oddly quiet with those intense eyes as he cut apart a screaming victim and told them to scream louder for him; no, he was a curious scientist who had enjoyed his work as though play and sought to find the solution and answer to what he had questioned before, his smiles and glee went only for the satisfaction of seeing that his hypothesis was correct or even if there was an interesting outcome.

He had made himself darker.

She wondered why. No one would ever disrespect him, no one would ever challenge him, no one would ever condescend him, no one would ever lock him back up in that cell; yet, he barricaded himself in bars and chains to make sure that no one would ever touch him, they would have to be more cruel than him to harm him. He had indeed lost his mind and regained it to become madder in their eyes.

Then one day in the labs while one experiment hadn't been going well, his temper had exploded and he was taking it out on everybody, particularly her. She was there as his anchor to reality, his pacifier. She was there to take his anger for him. All the scientists stepped away and she stepped in. Of course, she became the only thing in his eyes as soon as she came to him face to face. He grabbed her arms and shook her, blaming the entire thing on her and asking her why she wasn't watching.  
The thought of that afternoon came back, when he held her almost the same way.

Mayuri sneered at them all, "You're all trying to make a fool out of me! This was child's play and it went wrong! How could it have gone wrong?"

Apologies were murmured all around, she could feel the air become stifling as everyone held their breath, afraid that the slightest sounds would draw his attention from her to them. But they should have no fear of that, he had created her for part of this purpose, to protect and to serve.

He threw her to the ground. "You stupid bitch!"

She braced herself for the blow that would come to her, she could never run from this man, but it did not. His hand was drawn back, ready to strike her, but he hesitated; his fingers were twitching and his limb was trembling as though something was holding him. Then his golden eyes narrowed, the teeth clenched even tighter than possible and the next thing she felt was a horrible sting on her right cheek and the crack that echoed throughout the labs.

All the scientists stopped their work momentarily to look up at the fallen lieutenant and the captain that loomed overhead of her.

He turned on them, snarling, "What are you all looking at? You all have work to do! I swear, if not a single one of you goes back to work now, I'll use all of you rats into test subjects!"

There was the sudden cacophony of tapping keys.

She stood up and bowed to him, "My deepest apologies, Mayuri-sama. It was my fault, I shall do better."

She saw his fist raise only slight as it clenched into a fist, shaking. It fell back down at his side. He turned on his heel and went back to see if the experiment could still be salvaged.

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**So, what do you think?**


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